Childminder home insurance

David Joyson

Written by

David Joyson

Home Insurance Expert & Customer Champion

Libby Goodsearles

Reviewed by

Libby Goodsearles

Head of Marketing

Less than 1 minute

Updated: 14 Feb 2024

PROFESSIONAL CHILDMINDING NEEDS A SPECIALIST INSURER

Working from home and being your own boss has many benefits. Working as a professional childminder who is educating and inspiring children daily is also a great reward, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Finding home contents and building insurance for childcare providers can be a difficult task, as lots of insurers believe that working as a childminder from home is a big risk. We’re not like every other insurer though. We want to make getting an online quote for your home business a simple and stress-free process.

TAILORED FOR YOU

Our childminder home insurance policy is designed for you and has a range of benefits and features that will protect your property, your possessions and your office equipment. Public liability, accidental damage cover, legal expenses and additional cover options can be tailored to meet your needs.

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What’s covered by HOME insurance with business use?

Home insurance provides financial protection if you need to repair your home or replace your belongings after they’ve been stolen, damaged or destroyed.

It comes in two parts: buildings insurance (cover against damage to the property itself) and contents insurance (for damaged or stolen items within the home). These can be combined or bought separately, so the first step is deciding which option is better for you.

What we offer

Quick home emergency response times

Have a home emergency, such as electricity failure, faulty locks or vermin infestation? With the 24/7 Home Emergency cover, which we provide as standard, you can typically get an engineer at your home within four hours. And if you’re worried about an uncontrollable leak in your home, we aim to have an emergency plumber to you within two hours.

Extreme weather conditions may extend response time. Policy terms and claim limits apply.

5 star rated buildings cover

Our building insurance has been given the highest rating by independent financial research companies, Defaqto and Moneyfacts.

Repair guarantee

Any buildings work we undertake is guaranteed for 24 months following a claim and any contents repair work we undertake is guaranteed for 12 months.

New for old

Where we replace an item, we will do our best to meet the original specification on a ‘new for old’ basis. If we can’t find an exact replacement, we’ll offer you a suitable alternative, or a full cash settlement.

Legal advice

We provide Legal Protection cover as standard, giving you access to telephone legal advice on any personal legal issue, under the laws of the UK, any European Union country, the Isle of Man, Channel Islands, Switzerland and Norway.

What isn’t included?

Damage cause gradually, or by wear and tear, or by failure to fix a known issue.

Faulty design or poor workmanship.

Theft, vandalism or accidental damage caused by a paying guest.

The cost of repairing or replacing items following a mechanical or electrical fault.

Lost items.

Business stock.

Home Insurance with business use Cover Levels

Our home insurance is designed to protect your home against insured events such as fire, storm, flood, escape of water, theft, malicious damage, subsidence, landslip or heave.

Buildings cover

Covers the main structure of your home if you need to rebuild or repair it.

up to £1 million

(eligibility criteria applies)

Contents cover

Covering the value of all your possessions in the home, on a new for old basis. Business equipment (e.g. desktop computers, photocopiers, printers, office furniture) is covered up to £3,000 per claim (a higher claim limit is available if you need it). Laptops and mobile phones worth less than £1,500 each are covered as standard inside the home – more expensive electronic gadgets can be covered as an optional extra.  

from £25,000

Alternative accommodation

For you and your pets, in case you can’t live at your home while it’s being repaired after an insured event.

up to £85,000

Home emergency

Covers emergencies that occur in your home like uncontrollable water leaks, electricity failure, faulty locks and vermin infestation. Two levels of cover are available.

up to £500

Family legal protection

Provides a 24/7 legal advice helpline and up to £25,000 cover for claims involving contract disputes and property damage. For a claim to be successful, there must be reasonable prospects (more than a 50% chance) of winning the legal case. Two levels of cover are available.

up to £25,000

Trace and access

Covers the cost of detecting the source of a water or oil leak and repairing any damage caused in the process.

up to £10,000

Outbuildings cover

Covers rebuild or repair of your outbuildings (such as detached garages, greenhouses, sheds and summerhouses).

from £20,000

Liability cover

Liability cover involving accidental death, bodily injury or illness or property damage that you are legally liable to pay. There is a claims limit of £100,000 for incidents arising out of the supply of food and drink to paying guests.

up to £5 million

Personal possessions

Cover for portable items that you take out of your home, like bags, clothes and sports equipment

Optional

Gadgets, bikes and valuables away from the home

Cover for electronic gadgets (e.g. mobile phones, laptops, tablets etc), bikes (including electrically assisted bikes) and valuables (e.g. watches and jewellery) that you take out of your home.

Optional

Accidental damage

Covers situations when unexpected accidents happen, such as spillages on the carpet, breakages around the house or drilling through hidden pipes. Two levels of cover are available. No cover is provided for any area of the home used by paying guests.

Optional

Your Questions Answered

When you run a business from home, it’s important to have legal expenses cover in place. The legal expenses cover gives you access to a 24/7 legal advice helpline, and will pay for legal bills relating to nuisance or trespass disputes and breach of contract for the sale or purchase of your property. The Homeprotect policy includes a basic level of legal expenses cover with every policy, providing up to £25,000 cover. You can upgrade to Full legal expenses to increase the cover limit to £50,000. Read more about the differences between Basic cover and Full cover.

It is in your best interests to have a written contract between you and any parents that you are providing childminder services to. In relation to home insurance, we provide up to £25,000 of legal expenses as standard within our home insurance. You may choose to upgrade this further when taking out cover.

You may well have noticed that very few insurers are comfortable with providing cover to childminders. In most cases, insurers believe that a home occupied by other people’s children is an unacceptably high risk. We don’t agree. We understand that childminding is your business, so you should be able to get buildings and contents cover in the same way that anyone else working from home does.

Your home insurance provider will need to be informed that you are running a business at home that involves your customers (parents and their children) being in your home on a regular basis. A mainstream home insurance provider generally won’t provide home insurance under these circumstances. You can get cover from Homeprotect, simply enter the details of your business visitors when you get an online quote.

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